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On March 15, the annual CCTV 315 gala arrived as expected in the expectations of many consumers. This day was also a sleepless night for countless public relations companies, fearing that they would not respond in time after being exposed. The product safety and product quality of the automobile industry have been concerned by the market.

BMW, a well-known German car company, was named at the CCTV 315 evening tonight because of the abnormal noise of the transmission shaft, a problem that has been around for a long time and has not been solved.

In a video provided by the owner of a BMW, you can clearly hear the sharp friction and metal crashing sound of the transmission system during the switch between R gear and D gear. It is understood that from August to the end of December 2023, Mr. Li has been communicating with the 4S store about abnormal vehicle noise, but has not been able to get a satisfactory answer.

Mr. Li, the owner of the BMW 530Li, said that the BMW maintenance personnel determined that it was the abnormal noise of the drive shaft and the quality problem, and the solution given by the after-sales staff of the 4S store was to replace the drive shaft according to the three-package method. Mr. Li did not approve of this solution, because the drive shaft was an important part of the powertrain, and replacing the drive shaft was equivalent to "major surgery" on the vehicle. After that, Mr. Li called the BMW manufacturer and got the reply: After-sales matters were handed over to local dealers to deal with, and such a reply cooled the hearts of car owners. It is understood that there are not a small number of BMW owners who encounter the same problems as Mr. Li, indicating that the abnormal noise of the BMW transmission shaft is not an isolated case.

In this case, many car owners who have just mentioned the car have put forward the request for the return of the car. According to the three-package policy, if the quality of the main parts of the family car occurs within 60 days from the date of the invoice or within 3000 kilometers (whichever comes first), and it cannot be used normally after a cumulative replacement of 2 times, consumers have the right to choose to replace or return the goods. However, the local dealer intelligently promised to replace the transmission shaft, which is impossible if you want to return or change the car.

It is understood that BMW had previously filed a recall plan with the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration precisely because of the transmission shaft. In June 2017, BMW (China) Automobile Trading Co., Ltd. filed a recall of some imported BMW X5 and X6 series vehicles involving a total of 86778 vehicles. The reason for the recall is that the oil seal of the vehicle's front drive shaft bearing may slip out of the design position after long-term use, and in some cases, the 10-byte part of the drive shaft may break, causing safety risks.

In January 2019, BMW (China) Automobile Trading Co., Ltd. filed a recall plan with the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration for a total of 279 imported BMW M3 and M4 vehicles because of transmission shaft problems. Due to the design error, the transmission shaft flange of the vehicle in the recall area may gradually extricate from the transmission shaft after long-term high load use, and cause vehicle chassis vibration or abnormal noise. If the flange comes off completely, the vehicle transmission shaft will skid and lose the transmission power, resulting in the vehicle unable to accelerate, which increases the difficulty of vehicle control and the hidden danger of safety.

"Automotive Industry concern" found that the complaint about the abnormal noise of the BMW transmission shaft began in August 2023, and mainly focused on the BMW 3-Series and BMW 5-Series models, mainly on the 2023 and 2024 models. BMW owners who just bought a new car found the sound of a metal collision while driving, so they fed the question back to the 4S store and gave the answer of replacing the drive shaft. Some car owners do not approve of the solution of replacing the transmission shaft, and some car owners still have the problem of abnormal noise after changing the transmission shaft. At the same time, models related to the abnormal noise of the BMW transmission shaft are also on sale, leading to more and more consumers being tricked. Until the 315 evening broadcast, BMW officials did not respond directly to the owner. Car owners believe that as long as there is such an unexplained abnormal noise in the transmission shaft, it represents a safety hidden danger, and BMW manufacturers have the responsibility and obligation to find out the truth and give car owners a clear answer.

It is worth mentioning that on the day of March 15th, BMW Group officially released its results for fiscal year 2023. BMW Group's revenue for the fiscal year reached 155.498 billion euros (1.21 trillion yuan), up 9 percent from a year earlier, while group profit before interest and tax climbed to 18.482 billion euros (144.71 billion yuan), up 32.0 percent from a year earlier, according to the report. Among them, profits before interest and tax in the automotive sector rose sharply for the whole year, reaching 12.981 billion euros (1016.5 yuan), an increase of 22.1 percent over the same period last year.

Most of BMW's revenue and profit growth is due to BMW's rising delivery volume in the global market, according to the results. According to data, BMW delivered 2.554 million new cars in 2023, an increase of 6.4 per cent year-on-year. In terms of sales distribution, the top three global sales markets are China, the United States and Germany, with sales of 824000 vehicles, 395000 vehicles and 281000 vehicles respectively in fiscal year 2023.

It is not difficult to see that China is BMW's largest single market in the world, and the performance of the Chinese market will greatly affect the performance of BMW's global market. BMW 3-Series and BMW 5-Series with concentrated transmission shafts are BMW's best-selling models in China. In 2023, the BMW 3-Series sold 146600 vehicles, while the BMW 5-Series sold 136700 vehicles, ranking second in the sales list.

At present, BMW China has made the latest response to the CCTV 315 evening report on "abnormal noise of BMW rechargeable drive shaft": in response to the "abnormal noise of transmission shaft" raised by some BMW 530Li users, we have previously conducted a technical check to confirm that this phenomenon will not affect driving safety, and can be solved through maintenance, BMW bears all related maintenance costs. We will further carry out technical review and in-depth analysis to give consumers a satisfactory answer. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to users.

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